1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus for cleaning an electrophotographic copying or like machine and particularly to a cleaning apparatus having a thin plate capable of guiding toner scraped from a photosensitive element-supporting drum by a cleaning blade.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In an apparatus for cleaning a drum surface of an electrophotographic copying or like machine by using a blade cleaning method, it is known to recover toner scraped from the circumferential surface of a photosensitive or photoconductive drum in a storage portion of the apparatus. Generally, a thin plate is applied to the circumferential surface of the drum so that the toner scraped therefrom may be guided for recovery by the presence of the thin plate.
In an electrophotographic copying or like machine, the photosensitive drum must often be detached from the apparatus, when either a transfer sheet becomes jammed between portions of the apparatus during a copying operation or for performing maintenance on or supervising operation of the machine, as is well known. In that case, it has heretofore been the usual practice to detach and subsequently reattach the drum from and to the machine after first drawing the aforesaid thin cleaning plate away from the drum surface by means of one's fingertip or the like. However, this method or construction is disadvantageous in that the circumferential surface of the drum may be easily damaged by the thin plate or the thin plate damaged by the drum surface through inadvertent carelessness in effecting the removal or return of the drum.